The Jamaat-e-Islami is a social conservative and Islamist political party, advocating for an Islamic and democratic form of government in Pakistan. The JI was founded on August 26, 1941 in Lahore by Muslim theologian and socio-political philosopher Abul Aala Maudoodi. The party is led by an Emir (lit. Leader), and currently Syed Munawar Hasan is tenuring as Emir of JI. The JI is headquartered in Mansoorah district, Lahore.
Founded during British control in India, the JI moved its organization after the Indian partition to the newly created state of Pakistan, initially setting up its organizational mass in West-Pakistan. The members who remained in India regrouped to form an independent organization called Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the JI opposed the independence of Bangladesh, but established itself there as an independent political party, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami after 1975. The JI maintains close ties with international Muslim groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. The JI is a vanguard party, its members form an elite with “affiliates” and then “sympathisers” beneath them.
The Jamaat’s objectives is establishment of an Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. The JI opposes Western Ideologies such as capitalism, socialism and secularism, and practices such as bank interest and liberalist social mores, but the party advocates democracy as an integral part of Islamic political ideals.